Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [296]
Other similar offices (hours are the same) include the following:
Namba Station Visitors Information Office (Map; 6211-3551; Minami)
Shin-Osaka Station Visitors Information Office (Map; 6305-3311)
Tennō-ji Station Visitors Information Office (Map; 6774-3077)
Osaka Itami and Kansai International Airports also have information counters:
Kansai International Airport Information Center (07-2455-2500; 2F/North, 1F&4F/North, South & Central zones; 24hr)
Osaka Itami Airport Information Center (6856-6781; 1F Terminal Arrival Lobby, North & South zones; North zone 8am-9.15pm, South zone 6.30am-9.15pm).
Travel Agency
No 1 Travel Osaka (Map; 6345-4700; www.no1-travel.com/kix/no1air/index.htm; Kyo-Tomi Bldg 3F, 1-3-16 Sonezake-Shinchi, Kita-ku; 10am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat; JR line to Osaka) Located in Umeda, this helpful travel agency has English speakers and competitive prices.
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SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Kita Area
By day, Osaka’s centre of gravity is the Kita area (Map). While Kita doesn’t have any great attractions to detain the traveller, it does have a few good department stores, lots of places to eat and the eye-catching Umeda Sky building.
UMEDA SKY BUILDING
Just northwest of Osaka Station, the Umeda Sky building is Osaka’s most dramatic piece of modern architecture. The twin-tower complex looks like a space-age version of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe. The view from the top is impressive, particularly after sunset, when the lights of the Osaka-Kōbe conurbation spread out like a magical carpet in all directions.
There are two observation galleries: one outdoors on the roof and one indoors on the floor below. Getting to the top is half the fun as you take a glassed-in escalator for the final five storeys (definitely not for vertigo sufferers). Tickets for the observation decks (Map; 6440-3855; 1-1-88 Ōyodonaka, Kita-ku; admission ¥700; 10am-10.30pm; JR line to Osaka) include the escalator ride and can be purchased on the 3rd floor of the east tower. Last entry 10pm.
Below the towers, you’ll find Takimi-kōji Alley (Map), a re-creation of an early Shōwa-era market street crammed with restaurants and izakaya.
The building is reached via an underground passage that starts just north of both Osaka and Umeda Stations.
OSAKA MUSEUM OF HOUSING & LIVING
Two subway stops from Umeda is the Osaka Museum of Housing & Living (Map; 6242-1170; 6-4-20 Tenjinbashi, Kita-ku; admission ¥600; 10am-5pm, closed Tue; Tanimachi subway line to Tenjinbashisuji Rokuchōme, exit 3), which contains a life-sized reproduction of an entire 1830s Edo-period Osaka neighbourhood. You can enter and inspect shophouses, meeting halls, drug stores and even an old-style sentō (public bath). The rooms and houses are dimly lit in order to re-create the ambience of pre-electric Osaka. The museum also contains a room filled with dioramas of post-Meiji Osaka neighbourhoods, including an interesting community of buses that were converted into homes following WWII.
To get there, from the station’s exit 3 go through the glass doors to the left of the escalator and take the elevator to the 8th floor. There’s no English sign.
Central Osaka
OSAKA MUSEUM OF HISTORY
Just southwest of Osaka-jō, the Osaka Museum of History (Osaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan; Map; 6946-5728; 4-1-32 Ōtemae, Chūō-ku; admission ¥600; 9.30am-5pm, to 8pm Fri; Tanimachi subway line to Tanimachi-yonchōme) is housed in a fantastic new sail-shaped building adjoining the Osaka NHK Broadcast Center. The display floors of the museum occupy the 7th to the 10th floors.
The displays are broken into four sections by floor; you start at the top and work your way down, passing in time from the past to the present. The displays are very well done and there are plenty of English explanations; taped tours are available.
The museum is a two-minute walk northeast of Tanimachi-yonchōme Station.
OSAKA-JŌ
This castle (Map; 6941-3044; 1-1 Osaka-jō, Chūō-ku; admission grounds/castle keep free/¥600; 9am-5pm, to 8pm Aug; JR Osaka Loop line to Osaka-jō-kōen) was built as